Harness: Takter has some sleepers in her stable of stars

Trainer Nancy Takter’s stable was flying sky-high in 2019 with barn stars Manchego, Tall Dark Stranger, Captain Crunch and Kissin In The Sand getting the headlines they deserved. Yet with the arrival of the spring season, Takter’s crew is in a bit of a holding pattern.

“There’s not much we can do right now,” said Takter of the obvious situation most trainers find themselves in due to the Coronavirus.

While there are plenty of stars to talk about there could be a few from the 49 in Takter’s care that are flying below the radar and one, a 3-year-old Sweet Lou-sired former colt by the name of No Lou Zing, with untapped talent.

“He’s not very smart,” Takter said kindly of the sophomore. “We decided to geld him and I think that’s helped some.”

No Lou Zing put in an eye-catching performance in a qualifying race a few weeks back at The Meadowlands that gave Takter some hope that perhaps the mischievous behavior that he showed as a freshman was perhaps behind him now. “Josert (Fonseca) said he never sat behind a horse that went as fast as he did in the qualifier,” said Takter. “I was worried when they got caught behind Yannick’s (Gingras) horse on the turn that he would do something stupid but he reacted perfectly.”

No Lou Zing made just three pari-mutuel starts as a 2-year-old in 2019 and made breaks in all of them. “Doug McNair told me he had scary type of speed,” Takter said. “But it really doesn’t matter if you have to make up 25 lengths.”

The frustration of a 2-year-old campaign gone awry has its impact and Takter certainly had plenty of reason for hope after No Lou Zing’s second qualifier last July when he went down the road and was just outkicked late in a 1:52 4/5 mile. “He got beat by The Greek Freak,” said Takter, referring to the Captaintreacherous-sired gelding that appeared to exude talent for trainer Ron Burke at the time.

With more proven talent already in the stable, Takter wisely has kept No Lou Zing’s stake schedule a bit more limited than some but still feels the gelding could have a bright future should he mind his manners. “We’ve got him staked in Pennsylvania of course and in the Breeders Crown, and some other late races,” said Takter. “It’s disappointing after that qualifier that we couldn’t get more work into him.”

Remember The Beach was too big for his own good as a freshman but Takter is excited by the transition the gelding has made from last year. “He’s definitely matured. I was very happy with his effort at Pocono,” Takter said, referring to the 1:52 4/5 career-best effort on March 9. Though a $140,000 yearling purchase, it should be noted that Remember The Beach is a half-brother to four geldings that all earned in excess of $100K, including the $945K winner Beach Memories and the $661K earner Bettor Memories.

Takter is also holding out hope that Lottery Winner, a full brother to the stable’s Thinkbig Dreambig, will develop into a better 3-year-old. The son of Bettor’s Delight showed 1:50 and change speed as a freshman while competing in stakes competition in Kentucky.

With 29 2-year-olds to train, Takter appears confident that she has a solid group while not ready to single out any in particular just yet. “We’ve been between 2:15 and 2:25 with all of them,” said Takter. “With us it’s not just about the speed, we like to go more miles with them.”

It is a pattern that Takter employs, trying not just to find speed but develop muscle that will help horses survive a long campaign.

The now 5-year-old Manchego was originally being prepped for a trip to Solvalla and the Elitlopp, but Takter recognizes the world health crisis and has changed focus. “She’s training back super,” said Takter. “What I’m really looking forward to with her this year is racing her at Delaware (Fairgrounds) in the fall. I’ve never had a horse that could trot a turn like she can.”

Finally, with the schedule in limbo, the 3-year-old colt Tall Dark Stranger is ready to drop closer to racing speed having been in 2:03 already. Hopefully he’ll get his chance at races like the North America Cup if all goes according to plan.